Chapter 12: Trading for Survival: The Slope, the Sheep, and the Wild Boar

Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing like a commander glaring at a disobedient soldier. “Any evolved creature found outside territory boundaries is not protected under the Territory Act.”

“Even the ones with collars are no exception.”

“Understood,” Xia Qing replied loudly, then dropped her voice to ask, “Captain Tan, if I clear that slope, can it be counted as part of my territory?”

After the cataclysm, Hua Nation was so vast and sparsely populated that no one cared about land teeming with evolved beasts.

Tan Junjie locked eyes with Xia Qing for a few silent moments. “What’s on that slope?”

“There’s an edible Chinese Toon Tree. My sheep really like eating it,” Xia Qing answered honestly.

Tan Junjie got the gist, rubbing his brow as he shot back, “How many wild boars did you catch in total?”

Well, about that…

Xia Qing hesitated, knowing she couldn’t hide it for long. She came clean: “Three. There’s still one left in the territory.”

“Alive? Edible?”

“…Yes.”

Tan Junjie paused before asking, “Male or female?”

Now it was Xia Qing’s turn to feel awkward. “Didn’t check. I’ll text you once I confirm.”

Tan Junjie laid out the deal. “Trade that wild pig for the slope and ‘your’ sheep.”

Xia Qing, who was hoping to raise the Spotless Wild Pig for a huge haul of points, hesitated but bargained, “Can I clear the slope myself?”

Is she really treating that Toon Tree like a treasure? Tan Junjie eyed Xia Qing’s dark, thin face and promised, “It’s too risky for you alone. We’ll only clear out dangerous creatures; we’ll leave everything else on that slope as is.”

A grin broke across Xia Qing’s face. “Deal! Thanks, Captain Tan!”

After Xia Qing left carrying her food, Tan Junjie pulled out his phone to report the situation, then requested, “I’m applying to take a team into the Evolver Forest right now to catch the wild pigs… Yes, I’ll make sure the mission is completed.”

***

Inside Plot Three, Xia Qing guarded a huge pile of rice and flour, all packed into one-kilo bags. Her mouth practically watered. Back in the Safe Zone, she’d never splurged on staple food like this in an entire week—now she suddenly had sixty kilos!

Tonight she would treat herself to a rice dinner. But before nightfall, she had a big task to finish.

She cut a scrap of red fabric from an old shirt, stitched together a collar, then clumsily embroidered “Plot Three – Xia Qing” on it before heading back into the Evolver Forest.

Even if she couldn’t bring the evolver goat back to her territory today, she was determined to at least get that collar on it. Only then could she relax.

After all, the goat and that patch of land had cost her a wild boar worth tens of thousands of points.

Xia Qing wasn’t sure if this goat counted as edible stock, but she didn’t want to eat it anymore. Now she hoped it could work for her, and she really wanted to keep that tree that kept sprouting fresh Chinese Toon Shoots.

She hurried up the slope and, sure enough, found the evolver goat lounging beneath the tree, half-lidded eyes fixed on her.

They stared each other down for a moment before Xia Qing poured half a kettle of water into the chipped crock the goat had licked spotless.

The evolver goat watched her, unmoving and squinting.

Xia Qing took three steps back, removed her protective mask, sipped some water herself, then waved the kettle temptingly. She started sweet-talking the goat: “Come back with me. You can drink as much of this water as you want. You can even bathe in spring water. Look at you—covered in dirt like a chimney sweep. You must be itching all over, right?”

The evolver goat ignored her, getting up only to drink from the crock.

Xia Qing crept a step closer. The goat didn’t react, so she moved in again. But the moment she whipped out the collar, the evolver goat suddenly leapt at her, horns lowered. Xia Qing jumped back just in time.

Human and goat chased and dodged each other, circling the giant toon tree a dozen times.

After so many dizzying laps, Xia Qing scrambled up the tree while the goat, still fuming, slammed its horns against the trunk in frustration.

She couldn’t tell if those spiral horns hurt, but she sure knew she was about to puke from all the shaking.

Turns out, Xia Qing had just as much temper as the goat. She yanked out her machete and, with two clean chops, hacked off a sturdy branch and tossed it down. The evolver goat immediately stopped battering the tree, turning to munch the tender sprigs at the tip of the branch.

Xia Qing leapt down, kicked over the goat’s water crock, hoisted the branch, and dashed off. If the goat wouldn’t wear a collar, she’d just lure it home instead.

Sure enough, the evolver goat took the bait and charged after her, eager for the shoots.

One after another they raced out of the Evolver Forest, the goat hustling along behind to nibble at the branch.

To keep evolved beasts out of the Buffer Forest, they’d sprayed a broad fifty-meter barrier with powder that the creatures hated—including evolver goats.

But this goat clearly only came over to drink at Xia Qing’s spring. Even faced with stinky powder, there was no way it could resist the double temptation of spring water and toon shoots.

Carrying the branch, Xia Qing passed through the barrier into the Buffer Forest. As she’d expected, the evolver goat bounded, tail twitching, right through the barrier after her.

At the northern edge of Plot Four, Su Ming, an evolver with enhanced vision, rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “Captain Tan, Brother Yang, I just saw Sister Xia Qing carrying a branch with a goat following her out of the Evolver Forest into Plot Three’s buffer zone!”

Tan Junjie turned, a curious look flickering across his face, and glanced at Yang Jin standing beside him in camouflage protective gear.

Yang Jin, his features dark as ink, stared at Su Ming for two seconds before finally putting on his protective mask. “Let’s move.”

“Yes, sir!” Over twenty members of the Azure Dragon Unit donned their masks in unison and followed Yang Jin into the Evolver Forest.

Su Ming was still baffled. He tugged at his teammate Cao Xianyun’s sleeve. “Did you catch the look Yang Jin gave me just now? It felt like he was wondering how many points my meat would fetch.”

“For once, your hunch might be right.” Cao Xianyun, an evolver with quadruple hearing, slid on his protective mask. “By the way, when did you start calling Xia Qing ‘sister’?”

Hmm. Wait, huh?

Now Su Ming was even more confused. “No! It’s just Xia Qing from Plot Three. Didn’t we just meet her yesterday…?”

Tan Junjie shot them a glare. “Check your gear, keep formation, move out.”

“Yes, sir!” Su Ming snapped to attention, shouted, and yanked on his mask.

Su Ming’s shout echoed all the way to Plot Three’s buffer zone, where Xia Qing, busy feeding toon shoots to her goat, paused and looked northward.

“Bang!”

Seeing Xia Qing suddenly stop, the evolver goat wandered to the cave entrance, scraped aside the blocking stones with a hoof, took a long drink from the spring, then came back to lie near the branch, eyes half-closed as it chewed cud.

You’d think that whole patch of woods belonged to the goat and not Xia Qing.

Come to think of it, maybe it really had been the goat’s territory before it was cleared. Xia Qing took off her mask and grinned. “There’s a whole team of people way tougher than me in the forest catching wild pigs now. If you want to stay alive, best keep yourself here and don’t wander.”

The evolver goat barely cracked an eye at Xia Qing, still chewing away.

Xia Qing gave up on the whole collar idea, grabbed a bundle of toon shoots, and tested them with her brand-new advanced Portable Tester—what she saw floored her.

Deep green with less than a tenth of a percent of Xiang element—top-grade, safe plant!

No wonder the goat had been guarding that Chinese Toon Tree. Xia Qing now wanted to move right under it herself. She’d just traded a green-light wild pig for over a thousand acres of hillside, a top-grade safe tree, and an evolver goat. The land might not fetch much, but a tree that puts out endless safe shoots? That was pure gold!

Honestly, even without counting the goat as a bonus, she’d absolutely made out like a bandit!

Watching Xia Qing beam like an idiot, the evolver goat—halfway through chewing its cud—squinted until its eyes were barely slits.